The present invention improves upon the known ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and NACE International (National Association of Corrosion Engineers International Institute) Standard Practice Pipeline External Corrosion Direct Assessment Methodology, ANSI/NACE SP0502 (herein ECDA). This standard methodology includes the following steps: pre-assessment, indirect inspection, direct inspection, and post assessment. The present invention additional methodologies within these generally known steps to improve the process and particularly